Greyhounds whitewash at Parliament

Any moment now, a House of Commons Committee is meeting to discuss the government’s Draft Welfare of Racing Greyhounds Regulations, with a view to their approval. A Lords Committee will do the same this afternoon.

Our staff are in Parliament all day to lobby against these proposals which clearly do nothing for the welfare of racing greyhounds and are, in fact, little more than a charter for gamblers and crooks. Given that, by this morning, 165 MPs had signed a Commons motion calling for debate on the matter whilst only 52 and signed in favour of the Regulations as they are, it is clear that we’re not alone in our unhappiness.

One of the key faults in the Regulations relates to record keeping. The Regulations include a requirement on the greyhound racetracks to keep accurate records of the dogs that race there, their owners, their health and welfare, and their performance. A good thing, you might think; except that the record keeping is pointless as the records are private and not available to the public! Imagine the prisons inspector being told she couldn’t actually enter a prison, and you have a similar arrangement.

We have high hopes that those MPs who claim to care for greyhound welfare – including Fabian Hamilton and Andrew Rosindell – will do something about it, and not simply wave the Regulations through.